Sunday Times clue writing contest

The results of contest 1398 with a full report on the best entries, and details of this week’s contest

Results: Clue writing contest 1398: Repechage

This was another word where getting the right definition was important. In
English, this word (usually spelled without an accent – the French word is
“repêchage”) means (in Collins Dictionary): “a heat of a competition, esp in
rowing or fencing, in which eliminated contestants have another chance to
qualify for the next round or final”. The Oxford Dictionary of English
definition is slightly different, mentioning “runners-up”. This seems to be
a mistake on their part – in rowing, possibly the best-known sport in which
repechages are used, the repechage involves everyone except the winner of
each preliminary heat.

The literal French meaning — “fishing again” is recorded in dictionary
etymologies, and I’ve said before that I’d only expect solvers to know about
well-known ones. In this case, I think I’d be prepared to make an exception,
as if you understand that “pecher”, from “peche” = fish, means the same as
our verb “to fish”, the etymology is easy to work out, but that gives us
another problem: can we make “French fishing again” into something less
obvious?

Winner

Nick Stevenson, Sevenoaks, KentHeat could be cheaper with introduction of green energy (9)

Heat = definition
could be = anagram indicator
cheaper with introduction of green energy = anagram fodder – cheaper, G,
E=energy
This clue tells a convincing story and disguises the true meaning of “heat”
very well.

Good clues

Paul Taylor, ManchesterWhere one set to go out early might benefit from eg cheaper transportationThis is a similar anagram clue, which works perfectly well but has a
weaker surface meaning.

Kevin King, Bingley, West YorkshireEg cheaper cocktail might just help one to get in the last roundThe same anagram, with the story transferred to a bar, and “cocktail”
working nicely as the anagram indicator. In the cryptic reading, we have to
understand “in the last round” as meaning the same as “into the last round”
— close enough for a successful clue, but a possible excuse for choosing a
different clue as the winner in this kind of contest.

J A Graham, Barnet, HertfordshireGape and cheer wildly about contest for final place
This one uses different anagram fodder. The combination of “gape” and “cheer”
is a bit arbitrary, and might betray the clue structure to experienced
solvers.

Andrew Brent, London W8Competitive oarswoman’s second chance obtained by modifying her pace,
for exampleThe definition is fairly transparent, but as long as we don’t mind
converting “for example” to “eg”, the anagram fodder and indicator work very
nicely in producing the surface meaning, and this should be appreciated by
most solvers.

Keith Mead, CheltenhamExtra heat makes page cheer wildly
This is a simple presentation of anagram content with a clear cryptic
reading. The surface reading requires “page” to mean “errand boy or young
attendant” and the kind of “extra heat” they’re most likely to cheer about
seems to be one in a jousting contest, in which case the definition isn’t
disguised.

James Glassonbury, Stonehouse, Gloucestershire Supplementary heat gets ever so cheap when programmed to avoid stoves
being turned on!This is an anagram of “gets ever so cheap” after removing the letters of
“stoves”. It’s a logical and fair clue, but longer and more complicated than
an ideal Sunday Times crossword clue.

Paul Smith, Knutsford, CheshireFury about drug exercise by church leads to another row
This is an additive/sandwich clue – (E = drug, PE = exercise, CH = church) in
RAGE, with “another row” exploiting the connection with rowing.

JA Stuart, Chatham, KentDECREPIT PEER seeks companion with time for another chance to score
This is intended to resemble a personal advertisement in Private Eye. The
wordplay is REPE (anagram of “peer”), CH = companion (of honour), AGE =
time, and the definition is “another chance to score” — weakened a little by
the need for “score” to mean “achieve success” if the sport involved is
rowing.

Andrew Gibbons, Pershore, WorcestershireSeine angler’s again fishing out perch, for example, with a head of eel
“Seine” is a kind of fishing net as well as Paris’s river, so makes good
content for this anagram clue. I think this one was the best attempt to
disguise an etymological definition.

G Macdonald, GlasgowSource of reprieve (half-chance, note) in fencing event
This is an all-in-one clue, using the fact that fencing sometimes employs
repechages. The cryptic reading is R (source of reprieve),
((CHA=half-chance,G=note) in EPEE=fencing event). The need for
“(half-chance, note)” made the surface reading too contrived for a prize.

Comments on some other clues

Second chance to make Greece happyThis is nicely topical, but we only need “Greece hap” for the anagram, and
there’s no logical reason to ignore the last two letters.

Final chance to charge with blunt épéeAs fencing sometimes uses repechages, the surface meaning is appropriate.
But I can’t see how the solver would understand that “charge” and “épée”
were to be anagrammed.

Traveller goes to London district hospital - time for another chance to
recoverThis is REP=traveller, EC, H, AGE. All fair enough, but “recover” alone
doesn’t have the required meaning as part of the definition.

Ghee blended with caper for extra heatThe surface reading for this anagram clue is convincing until you check
whether capers are (like ghee) used in curries — never, as far as I can
tell.

Heat to cook ghee with capersThis one reduces the role of curry, but the entrant didn’t notice that the
plural “capers” (which is convincing in the surface reading) spoils the
anagram.

Agree to differ about cheap alternative route to finalThis is another mistaken anagram – Agree + cheap is one letter (A) too
many. This is a shame as other aspects of the clue are very good.

Jump off high crag, épée wavingIn this anagram clue, the definition is wrong – a jump-off is a round to
determine which of the best finalists gets first prize, pretty much the
opposite of a repechage.

Witch with magic key pursues spellbound Uriah, charming snake effectThis came with the following explanation:

I’m only really convinced by the first of these, though I’d probably accept
the third if happy with everything else. Even if we agree that E is a “magic
letter”, that doesn’t mean we represent E as a “magic key”; “spellbound”
isn’t a fair anagram indicator; and “charming snake effect” is much too
vague as a definition, and the claimed “curing or cancelling” meaning is
news to me. I’m certain that no-one would be able to solve this clue without
all or most of the checking letters.

Clue writing contest 1401: Batik

Readers are invited to compose their own clues for the word above. Clues must
be original and cryptic, of a standard similar to those in the Sunday Times
Crossword.